How to Get Higher Email Opens By Split Testing Subject Lines

Are your email open rates struggling? You might be making mistakes you don’t even know you’re making. You can find out with a split test.

Last week, we explained the power of a good split test and showed how it can be done with sign up forms and lightboxes. But split tests don’t end once your list has taken shape. You can also test different elements of your emails to see what makes for more successful emails.

One of the easiest things to test is your subject line. Subject lines are crucial because they are the very first thing people see in their inbox. If it doesn’t intrigue them, it could also be the last thing they see of that email.
What are people testing?
Consistency

ClickZ, a marketing blog, did a test (and a retest) of a consistent subject line for a newsletter vs. a subject that indicated the topic of that edition of the newsletter. The consistent subject was “Subscriber Newsletter,” and the test ensured that the key theme of the newsletter was in the first 25 characters (ie “Prime Real Estate”).

Despite common advice that a consistent subject line helps open rates, ClickZ found the opposite: ( Read More )